How a Disaster Declaration Works
Cities, townships, county departments and other organizations in Beltrami County who
sustained damages from the early morning June 21 storm were invited to participate in
a Preliminary Damage Assessment meeting with Minnesota Homeland Security
Emergency Management and Beltrami County Emergency Management on Monday,
July 14th. Rita Chamblin, Road Supervisor, and Tanya Hanson, Township Clerk
attended.
The purpose of the meeting was for the state to begin to gather estimates of the eligible
costs incurred by each of the governmental units as a result of the storm. The total
costs must meet or exceed a certain threshold for our county to be eligible for a state
disaster declaration. Upon determining our eligibility, Beltrami County will then seek a
disaster declaration from the state to open the opportunity for reimbursement. If we get
that state declaration, which sounds likely, 75% of eligible expenses incurred by our
township to recover from this storm could be reimbursed by the state.
We’ve provided our township’s estimates to help in determining the county’s eligibility
and will advise when we hear a decision on the state disaster declaration.
For those of you wondering if FEMA will be assisting in storm recovery, it’s unlikely that
we’ll meet the threshold for the state to apply for FEMA assistance.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to learn from the county and state about this disaster
declaration process.